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Regardless of the fact — and it is a fact — that the best strategy for long-term weight loss and good health comes down to eating a portion-controlled diet of real foods and getting our bodies moving regularly, people continue to look for a quicker fix. Be it a program limited to cabbage soup or grapefruits, pills that supposedly burn through fat, or shooting yourself up with the pregnancy hormone (yes, that’s a real thing), a lot of folks want to believe an extreme and often wacky regimen is the answer. Do these strategies work for dropping a few pounds? Sure. But is it worth it when there are damaging effects on a person’s metabolism, overall health and their self-esteem when those pounds inevitably return?

One such diet trend that has been garnering a lot of buzz lately is juice fasting and/or cleansing (the terms are interchangeable depending on the program). Celebrities and civilians alike are turning to these multi-day liquid diets to shed weight and cure what ails them. In theory, switching to a juice allows one’s body to shift all of the energy it usually uses to digest solid foods (upwards of 70 per cent of its daily energy expenditure, if you believe juice-fasting companies) towards other healing and rejuvenating processes while still meeting basic nutrition needs.

But while there is a laundry list of health benefits tied to this practice and the personal testimonials of success are often compelling, the hard science to back these claims up is more difficult to come by.

The oft-overlooked truth is that juice cleansing, like any other nutrition program, is not appropriate for everyone and diet fad bandwagon jumpers should beware.

Charis Lynn Curtis, owner of the Calgary-based Bava Juice Company, is actually the first to admit this. “Engaging in a three-day program like ours will ultimately thin your blood and change your body’s chemistry, so you do need to be careful,” she explains. “Juice cleansing isn’t safe or healthy for diabetics — it’s too much sugar to regulate — drug addicts or those on a lot of medications such as anti-depressants, as it will increase the potency of the drugs and could lead to overdoses, or those who are pregnant or breastfeeding.”

It’s a refreshingly realistic perspective likely attributed to the fact that Curtis was a holistic therapist with extensive knowledge of the alternative health field before she became an entrepreneur. Bava was born in 2010 out of Curtis’s desire to help a client who was battling breast cancer and didn’t have the time or energy to make juice for a cleanse.

This isn’t to say her company’s three-day cleanse, consisting of three juices and one nut milk per day as well as a bottle of lemon and cranberry concentrate to add to their recommended daily water consumption, comes cheap. Made fresh out of the Crossroads Market every Friday, each individual cleanse contains 27 kilograms of locally sourced produce and will run you $333.

According to fitness nutrition specialist Kimberley Parsons, orchestrating a juice cleanse for yourself is also a costly proposition. She says the extra costs of going with a company like Bava, which delivers ready-to-drink juice, may be worth it when you factor in the time you spend prepping and cleaning. “Juicing is super time consuming,” says Parsons, who has done a number of cleanses ranging from three to seven days and opts for a juice-only day once a month. “You can only store juices for a couple of days, so every two days you have to make multiple litres. It takes me about three or four hours since I don’t have an actual juicer — I use a blender and cheesecloth instead. The amount of fruit and vegetables needed and the costs attached to them can admittedly get a little crazy.”

Although she agrees that juice cleansing is not for everyone and has never advised a client to do one, Parsons believes there are certain instances for which such a program could prove beneficial. Those suffering from acne, digestive problems, disturbed sleeps, night sweats or are having trouble dropping stubborn pounds are all candidates for juice-fasting success. “It is a fantastic way to clean out the digestive system, to increase liver function and to cleanse the kidneys, but I wouldn’t advise anything longer than seven days,” Parsons says. While a juice fast will provide the body with plenty of glycogen from the glucose and fructose in the produce and the brain stays fed, a strictly juice diet denies the body other important sources of fuel like protein and fat. “The body needs adequate amounts of protein to maintain and build muscle and without fats it’s hard for the vitamins and minerals being ingested to actually be absorbed into our cells.”

Now for the weightiest part of the issue: Will a juice cleanse result in notable weight loss? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to surmise that cutting out solid food and limiting your caloric intake for a number of days will inevitably lead to pounds being shed. The worse your diet was before a cleanse and the more weight you have to lose, the bigger the drop on the scale will likely be. But will you be able to keep the weight off once you return to solids? That’s entirely up to you.

Curtis admits that most weight loss attached to the Bava cleanse is shifting water weight and removing colon debris (both good things), rather than actual fat loss, but if your juice cleanse is the start of a new lifestyle rather than a fast fix, who really cares as long as you’re feeling great?

“Bava is Sanskrit for rebirth, so this program is really a kick start to any healthy transition,” she says. “It’s been a huge catalyst for a lot of people going on and losing massive amounts of weight. They finish their three days, realize the way they were eating before was really bringing them down and they make a complete lifestyle change.”

Juice fasting is not a miracle pill or potion. Heck, if you are doing the dirty work for yourself, there’s nothing simple about it. For those looking to take strides in an entirely new, more healthy direction or those just looking to give their bodies a reboot, though, it can be a very juicy proposition.

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